


Through Adversity

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Atlantis (UK TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Kindness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27863981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: When a creature they've never seen before attacks, new friendships are forged.
Kudos: 4





	Through Adversity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deinonychus_1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deinonychus_1/gifts).



> Written as a Christmas present for the lovely deinonychus_1 who gave the prompt "moral support”.

“He's just so, _different.”_

Pythagoras nodded. He had thought the same about Jason many a time though he wasn't quite sure why Ariadne had chosen now, while they were hiding in the woods from some sort of creature, to launch into her tirade.

They ducked as something tail like attacked the tree they were hiding behind and he grabbed Ariadne's hand, a liberty he still couldn't believe he was able to take, and pulled her behind him as they ran towards a clearing.

“What is that thing?” Ariadne asked.

“Giant kind of bear I think,” Pythagoras said, keeping the fact that it was going to be haunting his dreams for years to himself.

“Oh, of course,” Ariadne said, almost tripping over the hem of her long blue dress. “Who sent it do you think?”

“Atlantis isn't exactly short of enemies,” Pythagoras replied.

They tripped and slid down a small embankment, leaves kicking up everywhere. Breathless they halted for a second and then heard a screech followed by Hercules' distinctive war cry.

“There's an old cottage, about here, somewhere,” Ariadne panted, this time taking Pythagoras' hand and pulling him further along through the woods. Pythagoras only had time to raise an eyebrow, wondering how Ariadne knew about the cottage when suddenly they were right in front of it.

It had a strangely green looking thatched roof with solid mud walls and a round door. Pythagoras was about to tell Ariadne that she should be careful when she pushed open the door and walked right in.

“Um...shouldn't we make sure no one is inside?” he asked.

Ariadne poked her head out of the door. “No one's inside, Pythagoras.”

Even so Pythagoras kept his wits about him as he looked around the cottage and then allowed himself to follow Ariadne inside. He could still hear Hercules, and he thought Jason now too, sighting the mythical beast that had chased them there but the fighting was becoming more distant, which meant that he and Ariadne were relatively safe. Provided nothing jumped out from under the table to attack them. The others had told him to look after Ariadne and he was determined to do just that.

Ariadne smiled at Pythagoras and then started puttering around the room, picking up and putting down various pots and ceramics.

“I can't believe these things are still here, “ Ariadne said, wiping away some dust with the hem of her already mud strewn dress. “Look at this!” She showed Pythagoras the pot in her hand, a rather wobbly looking bowl with a misshapen looking bird drawn onto the side.

“It's um, interesting?” Pythagoras hazarded.

Ariadne good naturedly rolled her eyes. “I made this when I was 6. Back then I wanted nothing more than to fly over Atlantis and see the whole wide world. Just like a bird.”

She wistfully put the bowl down on the table and carried on looking through cupboards and opening drawers.

“You – this is your cottage?”

“My father had it made for my mother and then – then it became mine. We'd come out here, me and him and hide away from the courtiers and all his duties for hours on end. Making things. Painting. Drawing.” She let a finger drag through the dust on a shelf and drew a crude picture of a young girl.

“Sounds lovely.”

Ariadne turned towards Pythagoras and gave him a watery smile. “It was.”

“I don't suppose there's any food in here, is there?” Pythagoras asked.

“Ugh, I hope not,” Ariadne said, wrinkling up her nose at the idea. “We only ever brought bread and fruit. Banquets can get boring.”

“I'll take your word for it.”

Ariadne smiled and sat down at the table. Pythagoras, after looking out the window to try and see if Jason and Hercules were anywhere close by, sat down opposite her.

“So, you and Jason,” he said after a few moments of awkward silence.

“Me and Jason,” Ariadne agreed with a shrug of her shoulders and a confused looking smile. “I think.”

“He does like you.”

“Does he? Sometimes I wonder.”

“Of course he does. Anyone who looks at you, looks at anyone like he looks at you...there's no doubt in my mind. He cares a lot for you. He wouldn't be fighting the – whatever the hell that thing out there is – if he didn't. To have someone do that for you....”

Pythagoras trailed off and started carefully examining the grain of the wooden table.

Ariadne shifted in her seat. “Pythagoras? Is there – is there someone...?”

“Maybe.” He looked up sharply. “I haven't, we're not, the others don't...”

“It's all right,” Ariadne said quickly. She put her arms out across the table and he slowly put his hands in hers. “I promise I won't say anything.” She gently squeezed his hands. “But I'm sure that whoever they are they must be a very special person to make you blush so.”

Pythagoras felt his face heating up even more but Ariadne was smiling at him so sweetly that he couldn't fault her for it. And it was nice to be able to talk about this with someone who wouldn't make a joke out of it or tell him to “just go for it” without realising just exactly what that would entail.

“Do they know how you feel?” she asked.

“Sometimes I think they do but then other times...”

“It can be tricky,” Ariadne said. “Especially if they're not – a _conventional_ choice?”

Pythagoras looked up. Sometimes it was easy to forget how perceptive Ariadne could be, but then she had spent her whole life observing from the sidelines and being treated like a delicate flower when it was obvious that she was anything but. It was that steel in her that made her stand up for her people and was probably what Jason found so endearing.

“It can,” he agreed.

She let his hands go and moved around the table to sit in the chair next to him. “But worth it though?”

“I hope so.”

“Well, what are we going to do now?” Ariadne asked.

Suddenly there was shouting from outside and Hercules' clear cry of “Aim for the eyes!” was drowned out by a now familiar roar.

“We need to do something to help,” Pythagoras said, standing up and looking around the room. “Is there anything in here that might be useful?”

“It's not slowing down!” They could hear Jason shouting directions and then a sudden thump that didn't sound very encouraging echoed around the clearing outside the cabin.

“We could start a fire?” Ariadne suggested.

“That might work,” Pythagoras agreed and the pair of them began to hunt around for things that could burn easily.

Ariadne came back from their search with some old flints she and her father had used in the fireplace and Pythagoras lay down scraps of wood and an old wooden mat that they began to furiously pull apart, working in efficient silence.

When they were ready Ariadne started the fire and Pythagoras held the makeshift torch in front of them and headed out of the cottage. There they found a scene of chaos as the large creature was looming over an unconsciousness looking Jason as Hercules tried to simultaneously protect him and drag him out of harm's way.

“Oi, over here!” Pythagoras shouted and started waving the flame in the creature's direction.

Hercules looked up sharply and nodded when he saw what was happening and carried on dragging Jason to the side.

“Get it in the eye!” Hercules suggested and before Pythagoras could ask just how he was supposed to do that Ariadne took another wooden torch and lit it from Pythagoras' and began to move around him and towards the creature.

“ _Ariadne,_ ” Pythagoras hissed but she just waved a hand at him to silence him.

“He has plenty of eyes to choose from, doesn't he?” she said with a grin.

And it was true, the creature did have about five eyes, all of them blinking ominously. Whatever it was, wherever it had been conjured from, it seemed particularly tenacious and eager to attack Jason who they'd all come to recognise had been its target from the very beginning.

Here again it roared and opened its mouth wide. Pythagoras and Ariadne looked over at each, the same thought occurring to them both and then, with a nod, they each threw their flaming torches down the creature's throat.

The effect was instantaneous. The creature swallowed the flames, reared up on its two back legs and then let out a scream that sent a shiver down Pythagoras' spine. Ariadne took a step back as the creature fell on to its back and started rolling towards her. Pythagoras leapt forward, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her close as the creature's legs flailed in their direction and then continued to roll down the hill until it hit the side of the cottage where it promptly exploded and covered all four of them in bits of flesh and blood.

Ariadne squeezed Pythagoras' waist and then started to giggle into his neck. He held her close and tried to stop himself from following her but really her laugh was infectious and they were standing there covered in blood and guts and if anyone in Atlantis had been able to see them now...

“Good to see someone is finding this amusing!” Hercules said, Jason a dead weight in his arms. “But do you think you could give me a hand here!”

Pythagoras sobered up first. “Is he badly hurt?”

“Took a tumble, that's all.”

Hercules eyed the pair of them up. “You two did good there. Quick thinking.”

Pythagoras found he was pleased at the praise despite himself. Ariadne especially looked touched.

“We probably shouldn't stay here,” she said. She moved apart from Pythagoras and went towards Jason, moving some hair away from the unconsciousness man's head. “I'm sure between the three of us we can get him back home.”

Hercules grunted and with a quick lunge pulled Jason onto his shoulders as easily as if he were made of paper. “I've got him,” he said, flexing his muscles. “Let's just get moving, yeah? Before the guards have us arrested for your kidnapping.”

“They won't do that,” Ariadne said, though she didn't sound particularly sure of herself. “Home?” she asked, turning towards Pythagoras and holding out her hand.

“Home,” Pythagoras agreed, pausing a moment to take a big chunk of creature out of Ariadne's hair before taking her hand and letting her help him up the steep incline away from the cottage and the remains of the creature.

Hercules just shook his head and took the lead, marching them back to Atlantis with a soldier's gait, grumbling about the smell of the creature and the wasted afternoon that could have been spent in the gambling dens. It all seemed so wonderfully familiar that Pythagoras couldn't help from giving Ariadne's hand a friendly squeeze, pleased when she returned it. Jason may have found the love of his life, but Pythagoras was pleased to discover he'd found another friend in the most unlikely of places.


End file.
